Trim and Slim Tuesday

How often do you clean out your freezer? I find that frequent cleaning and organizing helps to limit food waste. While cleaning out the small freezer on my frig, I discovered homemade chocolate chip cookie dough. Once thawed, I popped the dough into a 9" square pan, baked, and cut into bars for the grandkids. It will take some effort for me to resist them, but the inability for me to button my last summer's shorts will help to provide the necessary willpower.

While watching our waistline, and our $$ bottom line, soup is an amazing way to stretch our food dollars.

Today, I am posting my very favorite soup recipe. It makes a huge amount of soup for leftovers, and freezing. If you have a small family, you may want to cut the recipe in half.

This recipe was found at www.allrecipes.com, and posted by BenevolentEmpress

INGREDIENTS
1 (20 ounce) package 15 bean mixture, soaked overnight
1 ham bone
2 1/2 cups cubed ham
1 large onion, chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped
5 large carrots, chopped
1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes, with liquid
1 (12 fluid ounce) can low-sodium vegetable juice
3 cups vegetable broth
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon chili powder
3 bay leaves
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 tablespoon dried parsley
3 tablespoons lemon juice
7 cups low fat, low sodium chicken broth
1 teaspoon kosher salt

DIRECTIONS
Place the soaked beans into a large pot and fill with enough water to cover by about 1 inch. Bring to a boil, then simmer over low for 30 minutes. Drain. Add the ham bone, ham, onion, celery, carrots, tomatoes, vegetable juice, and vegetable broth. Season with Worcestershire sauce, Dijon mustard, chili powder, bay leaves, pepper, parsley and lemon juice. Pour in enough of the chicken broth to cover the ingredients.
Simmer over low heat, stirring occasionally, for about 8 hours. Add more chicken broth as needed throughout the day. Remove the ham bone and season with salt if needed. Continue to simmer for a couple more hours. Remove bay leaves before serving.